A woman dressed in traditional clothing visits a business street in Beijing on June 5, 2024. (Photo by Wang Zhao/AFP Photo)

A portrait of French WWI soldier Edouard Marius Ivaldi is displayed on a tablet, in this illustration picture, alongside his battlefield grave memorial, a wooden cross with a battlefield helmet in Champagne, eastern France, November 3, 2015. (Photo by Charles Platiau/Reuters)

Photographer Howard Schatz had an idea: place actors in a series of roles and dramatic situations to reveal the essence of their characters. Such was the premise behind his book, In Character: Actors Acting, which captures some of Hollywood’s most emotive stars in the act of, well, making faces. Luckily for us, he continued the tradition for Vanity Fair. Here are some of the best.

Swedish brown bears “Fred” and “Frode” play in the snow on January 30, 2014 at the Natur- und Umweltpark (NUP) animal park in Guestrow, northeastern Germany. Despite of icy temperatures, the bear brothers took a break from their winter rest. (Photo by Bernd Wuestneck/AFP Photo/DPA)

US film star Elizabeth Taylor and her first husband Nick Hilton, of the hotelier family, on their wedding day.

New York Rangers right wing Ryan Reaves punches Minnesota Wild left wing Marcus Foligno (17) during a third-period fight in an NHL hockey game Thursday, October 13, 2022, in St. Paul, Minn. (Photo by Aaroan Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP Photo)

Palestinians sit in a fishing boat loaded into a horse cart as they pass on a street in the northern Gaza Strip on October 19, 2022. (Photo by Suhaib Salem/Reuters)

Teenage girls at a drinking fountain in Hyde Park in Central London on August 9, 2022 after weeks with no significant rain and unprecedented high temperatures. Many parts of southern England and Wales are facing drought conditions and preparing for emergency water measures. (Photo by Sarah Lee/The Guardian)